UU Swimmers Split Home Opener

11/3/2013 8:38:10 AM

The Urbana University swim teams suffered their first losses of the season on Saturday afternoon at the UU Aquatics Center, but the Blue Knights also picked up a win in the tri-meet with visiting Lake Erie College and Davis & Elkins College. Lake Erie defeated the UU men 125-110 and the UU women 147-82. Davis & Elkins fell short of the UU men 143-96, while the UU women took down the Senators 122-83.

Before Saturday’s loss to LEC, the UU men were a perfect 2-0 all-time in home openers. Both the Blue Knight men and women defeated Lake Erie in the first-ever home swim meet on October 21, 2011.

Individual winners for Urbana on Saturday included Aerika Wieser (50, 100 and 200 free), Alex Espinoza (100 and 200 free), Kim Helander (50 free and 100 fly), and Jennifer Schwartz (100 fly). Wieser remains undefeated in her individual races so far after a perfect start at Defiance last weekend. Helander hasn’t tasted defeat yet in individual or relay races after another perfect afternoon. He was on both the men’s winning 200 medley relay and the men’s 400 free relay on Saturday. Helander was joined by Matt Stover, Carl Henriksson and Alex Parks on the victorious 200 medley relay, and he swam with Coleston Pope, Parks, and Espinoza on the winning 400 free relay team. Espinoza joined Helander as the only other 4-0 finisher for UU on Saturday.

Henriksson had to settle for a runner-up finish in both the 100 and 200 breast stroke, but he set school records in both events for UU. The Blue Knight women broke 4 school records on the afternoon. Wieser set new marks in her wins in the 50 and 100 free, and Schwartz smashed old records in the 100 fly and 200 IM.

On Friday, the Blue Knights return to the road, traveling to Ohio Wesleyan University to battle the Bishops. The meet begins at 7:00 p.m. The Blue Knight men are now 2-1 on the season. The UU women move to 3-1 with the split on Saturday.